The first time I got introduced to the works of a, at the time, young singer calling himself 'Sizzla Kalonji' was when I heard the album Black Woman & Child somewhere in the mid to late 90s. I was very impressed with what I heard and ever since started following the musical output of this man from August Town, Jamaica. Lots can be said about his varying output from his debut Burning Up (1995) 'til his latest The Messiah (2013), but here I'd like to focus on the years that I and many with me consider his best: 1995 - 2002. He truly made classic tunes and albums in those years, mainly but not solely for producers Philip "Fatis" Burrell and Bobby "Digital B" Dixon. In this set of 2 mixes I like to showcase the early works in roots of Sizzla Kalonji & Bredren. It started off as a single-mix-effort, but after reaching the 80 min mark on the first, I had too many superb tunes left that had to be included, so a 2nd mix was born. I still had to leave out many killer tunes I highly rate, but felt 2 was enough for now. It does say something about the quality of his output of those days! The choice of tracks is based on my personal preference, diversity in the mix and the vibe of the moment. I'm not a fan of Sizzla in his falsetto style, so left tunes with that out. A tracklist like this is surely debatable, but for now it all lead to this and good music it is! Finding next tracks on riddims or even some dubs has been very time consuming, but very enjoyable to do: hadn't focussed this much on that time period in a while and man, what a pleasure it was to delve into it. Very hard to mix right at points too, due to the included tunes from other artists on the same riddims being mixed totally different (especially with Xterminator, love that attention they gave to every single tune in those days!) or coming from different albums with a different final mixing. I decided to strictly use tunes I have on original format (so no downloads), be it CD, LP or 45s and combined some with other tracks and/or dubs on the same riddims for a diverse, quality journey through the works of Sizzla Kalonji and with that through JA music of 1995 - 2002. Next artists include Luciano, Cocoa Tea, Anthony B, Admiral Tibet, Capleton, Jah Cure, Prince Malachi, Morgan Heritage and more. Mixes are in the usual BMC-style: no full tunes, one continuous 80 minute mix each with soundsamples here and there and with sources given for each track. Big up to my mate Andre who helped in the riddimspotting and provided a couple of original CD's for use in the process!

Enjoy reggae music as good as it gets. Tell 'm, Kalonji!

Tracks (in brackets is the name of the album or label of the single the tune came from, V.A. means the album is a compilation)

Thanks a lot for the positivity people, highly appreciated. It was great fun making these mixes (what a talent Sizzla is / can be and what a lovely music is made in those years!), lovely to see others feel the vibes too.

QuoteReggabe
My only question is: Why nothing from Words of Truth or Royal Son of Ethiopia? Some really nice tunes on those albums! Bless.

Hi Reggaebe, from Words Of Truth I included Lift Mine Eyes (#3 in mix 1), from RSoE I included Ripe Leaf (#10, mix 1) and Babylon Homework (#17, mix 2). Had some other tunes nominated from both albums, but they didn't make the final selection (for instance Enemies Are Confounded from WoT).

@Reggabe, I had Enemies are Confounded planned to be combined with Mr. Biggs - Lately on the same riddim, but as said, reached 80 min on the 2nd mix and it didn't get in eventually. Have so many tunes left I could easily make a 3rd, but 2 will do for now.

QuoteniceupAm I missing something on the first Sizzla mix? I can't seem to find a link to download it.

Hm, first time I used Sound Cloud, but it seems they only allow 100 downloads per audio-upload, so when it reached 100, the download link disappeared. I've uploaded the files to mediafire, find the links at [bettermustcome.blogspot.com] .

Thanks for mentioning that!

And thanks again all for the comments, really appreciate you all taking the time to leave a comment instead of just taking like most do. Nice one!

Been bumping vol.1 the last couple days and now into vol.2. Really nice to listen to some of these songs again. I had forgotten how incredible Sizzla was as an artist back then! Thanks again BMC, and especially give thanks for Sizzla!

Wow you nailed this one my friend. Sounds real good. Just missing two of my favorites, What does it Worth? and Jah Jah run things. Waiting for vol. 3 and 4 Your mixes are always top notch, give thanks for your effort.

QuoteReggabeI had forgotten how incredible Sizzla was as an artist back then!

I had the same some time ago when a friend who hardly knew Sizzla asked me to introduce his music. That's how I rediscoverd his early output and the idea for this mix was born.

I did buy some additional albums of his I didn't own for tunes I found out about in my search through those years and was amazed to find out I now own 21 albums of his (of which one best of and one with Anthony B ) from those years (1995-2002) alone [sleeves are all in picture I made for these mixes]. Definitely not all of the Praise Ye Jah, Black Woman & Child level, but some good tunes on all of 'm.

Respect BMC for taking the time to separate the wheat from the chaff with these mixes. The sheer volume of Sizzla's ouput is far too large (and quite frankly, spotty) for a casual fanboy like me to afford/collect/process. Keep up the good works.